Always keep your documentation up to date

Always up to date

Most databases evolve - new tables, columns or procedures are created. Some change name. Another get abandoned. Dataedo helps you update your documentation as your schema changes. Just click a button and Dataedo will connect to your database and read all the changes.

When a new table or column is added

When a new object or column gets added to database it just gets added to your documentation.

When something gets deleted

When a column or table (or any other object) gets deleted from your database it doesn't disappear from the documentation with its description but is marked as deleted. It is up to you to decide what you want to do with a description (copy or leave) and when you are ready you can delete the object from documentation manually. Objects marked as deleted don't get exported to documentation (PDF, HTML or Excel).

In this example column_3 was deleted from database:

When something gets renamed

When a column or table (or any other object) gets renamed it old name gets marked as deleted and new name is added to your documentation. You may copy description from old to new and delete old object once ready.

In this example column_2 was renamed:

Descriptions and comments are read from your database

Most database systems enable describing objects directly in a database - SQL Server has extended properties, Oracle and MySQL have comments. Dataedo reads existing comments from tables, columns etc. and adds them automatically to your documentation. It doesn't overwrite them later (unless they are empty), so you won't loose your work.

Nothing gets lost

You don't lose any descriptions you entered just because object or column was dropped. It's just marked as deleted and it's up to you if you copy descriptions or just delete it from repository too.

Your descriptions are not overwritten by import too. Descriptions are imported from database only once (and when description field is empty).

Exclude irrelevant or temporary tables

Some objects in database are temporary, unused or simply insignificant and you don't want them to get into your data dictionary. You have an option to exclude them at import/update stage (simply by unchecking) or you can later delete objects from documentation repository. They will be ignored in subsequent updates. You can always change your mind simply by checking ignored objects.